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JULY 8, 2018

Well, we survived the 4th and all the fireworks displays. We drove down the road a half hour and saw a gorgeous display put on by a local community. I was surprised to actually find parking but then we were early. It soon filled up.

Nani seems to have survived the noise and explosions. She still watches for her brother even though he’s been gone over 2 months. We now have a neighbor’s cat visiting us at night so have taken to locking her in; Koa used to protect us from this cat, who seems to think this is his new home. For heaven’s sake, please spay and neuter your pets! This one isn’t and is a major nuisance. Have you ever had someone else’s cat mark your bed while you were asleep in it? I have.

The weather has certainly taken an upswing. Upper 80s with slight trades, which feels great to me since I was born in Kansas and love the heat. But I hear it’s 124 in a town in Arizona; I don’t think I love it that much.

If you haven’t read John Grisham’s new book I heartily recommend it. I love mysteries with surprise endings and Camino Island is a doozy! I was never much of a Grisham fan until I found Gray Mountain; then our book club read The Whistler and now with Camino Island I’m hooked! Check out Ken Tucker’s review on Yahoo.

I’ve also been reading Sherman Alexie’s book You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me which is about his mother. It’s a tough read, combining prose and poetry, about a rough upbringing and for me has proven to be slow-going. I’d met Mr. Alexie many years ago in Seattle and so enjoyed his storytelling on that occasion. I’ve loved the movie “Smoke Signals” based on one of his books; in fact I own several of them. He’s a Spokane-Coeur d’Alene-American novelist, poet, and filmmaker according to his Google biography.

I also recommend Colson Whitehead’s book The Undergroune Railroad which is about slavery in the South. It’s a pulitzer prize winner (2017 fiction) and presents a unique outlook on the topic. I met him in 2016 at the Kaua`i Writers Conference and was taken by the way he writes. Our book club read it and discussed it at length. You can probably find it in your library.

Well, speaking of books, I need to go finish the book club’s July selection great small things by Jodi Piccoult so I’ll be ready for our next meeting on Monday. I’m a fast reader so should be finished by then. I confess I’ve joined Goodreads’ 2017 challenge and have read 38 of the 50 books I signed up to read. And that’s in spite of the trip to New Zealand and a recent trip to Honolulu! I’m so glad Mom taught me to read when I was 4!